Priori Incantatem
by The Deadpan Snarker
Summary: Natsuki Kuga goes to Hogwarts with a purpose other than learning magic in mind.
1. Chapter 1

ShizNat in Hogwarts! Need I say more?

Some warnings though:

1\. English is not my first language

2\. I'm a pretty inexperienced writer

Nevertheless, I hope someone out there can enjoy this. Feel free to critique!

*EDIT: beta'd and stretched

* * *

 _A girl held a parchment with trembling hands. She looked left and right, as if worried that someone might see her. Having made sure that she was indeed alone, she began to speak._

 _"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."_

 _Words began to appear on the paper, like magic. Well, not like magic; it was indeed, without a doubt, magic. The girl is a witch, you see, and artifacts like what she is holding were not that surprising. This particular item was a bit more special, though, and fitted her current needs._

 _Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. Whoever they were, the girl only knew that they were amazing._

 _The girl opened the parchment. She saw many names. Some names she was familiar with, and even knew their owners personally. She attached faces to them in her mind, at least to those of whom she knew. She could now see where exactly everyone in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was. Her eyes scanned the parchment for the one name that mattered. That one name she was intent on following._

 _Shizuru Fujino._

* * *

Natsuki Kuga has just started her first year at Hogwarts, and so she was naturally nowhere near achieving her purpose for coming to the school at all. She overslept as she almost stayed up all night out of excitement, even when everyone in the dormitory fell asleep after a night of hard partying for the firsties; she finally got to the school where her father went, after all. She sighed as she tried to make it in time for breakfast and made her way to the Great Hall. She can think of achieving her goals later if she wants to eat at all.

"Hey, first year! Where's your cloak? Wear your uniform properly!"

A shockingly blonde girl with bangs too short for her rather large forehead was looking at Natsuki expectantly, her similarly shockingly blonde eyebrows raised. Natsuki looked around, but no one else was there. She then pointed at herself.

"Yes, you!" It was Haruka Suzushiro, a maximus pain in the gluteus. And of course, a Prefect. Who could ever forget that Suzushiro was a prefect when she announced it all too often? "That jacket is not part of the standard issue for the students! Take it off immediately and wear your cloak!"

Natsuki was wearing an unzipped blue hoodie over her uniform, an item she'd been wearing for the past days. It felt comfortable on her skin, despite looking rather disheveled. Only now did anyone take notice of it, and it just had to be that Suzushiro girl. She did not stir from where she stood, opting to glare at the older woman who had no inkling of what "indoor voice" is.

"As much as I don't want to take points from my own house, I would have to if you don't take that jacket off!"

Indeed, Haruka Suzushiro was of the house of the brave: Gryffindor. But Natsuki did not think her brave. More like foolhardy, she thought! Hers was a stubbornness that could only be likened to a raging bull. An unthinking bravery, if it could be called bravery at all. Haruka Suzushiro was but a fool in her eyes.

Natsuki's temper was becoming short at record speed. Natsuki Kuga hated fools. And her hunger was of no help in the matter.

"Now, now, I don't think that it should come to that, Haruka-han."

It was Shizuru Fujino, another prefect. Or was it more fitting to say, not just another prefect? She smiled warmly at both Haruka and Natsuki, but only the latter seemed to notice the humour in the girl's eyes. It was then that Natsuki understood.

Shizuru Fujino was no fool.

She was the most popular lady in Hogwarts; a prodigy, the best there is both in magical theory and in the practice of it. And what a face she possessed, Natsuki caught herself thinking! She had the whole student body fawning all over her, though Natsuki noticed that, oddly enough, it was always girls who surrounded Fujino. This lady-attracting lady seemed to understand that it was actually Suzushiro who was in trouble, so much so because of the dark-haired girl's thinning temper. Not that the darker blonde had a bit of care for poor Haruka! She only went out of her way as the raven-haired girl piqued her interest. She let her smile reach her eyes.

"You may go now, um.."

"Kuga, prefect. Natsuki Kuga."

"Na-tsu-ki. Natsuki." the Fujino's lips curled as she repeated, no, _purred_ the other girl's name. "Hurry up Natsuki. You are trying to catch breakfast, are you not?"

Natsuki immediately remembered why she was there in the first place and sped off, leaving the two blondes before the one of fairer hair could protest.

"Ah, Natsuki?" Shizuru called.

Natsuki stopped running and looked back. "Yes, prefect?"

"Haruka-han is right, Natsuki. Students should wear their cloaks. Go, before a professor sees you. You might get into bigger trouble, sweet girl."

Natsuki acquiesced, seeing sense in the other girl's words. She removed the jacket and tied it to her waist, making a mental note to grab her cloak later. If only Suzushiro was at least a quarter as nice as this one! She tipped her head to Shizuru in a sort of small bow, and ran off again. Only later would Natsuki realize that the Fujino girl did not address her with any honorifics.

"That's why students are becoming so lax these days, Fujino! You're all 'now, now' and let them do whatever they want! No wonder they think that I'm the bad guy!"

"Now, now.." Shizuru Fujino's eyes were still so full of mischief

"There you go again!"

"But I do wonder, Haruka-han," Shizuru squinted as a smile tugged at her lips, "why hasn't any professor berated her for that?"

* * *

Natsuki entered the hall. There were four tables parallel to each other and another one in front where the teachers and staff sit. There were owls flying about, delivering mail and packages to the students. Natsuki went to the Gryffindor table and seated herself next to an orange-haired girl.

"Kuga-san!" Mai Tokiha, the orange-haired girl, exclaimed. "I didn't think you'd make it in time!"

"Natsuki is fine." Natsuki grabbed an egg salad sandwich, adding an extra helping of mayonnaise on it. "Well, that prefect Fujino kinda saved me from Suzushiro."

"Oh! You met Fujino-san? How lucky! She's so beautiful no?"

"Well, yeah, she's okay, I guess." Natsuki's nostrils flared. She scrunched up her mouth to mask the smile attempting to break out.

"She's okay!? Let me check your eyes Natsuki!"

"Oh piss off, Tokiha. She's just one of those nosy prefects." She made that silly scrunching face again.

"Prefect? More like perfect, am I right?" Mai laughed. "Hey, no fair. You can just call me by my name, too."

"Alright, alright, _Mai,_ now let me eat in peace." Natsuki paused. "So you swing that way, huh?"

"Huh? Me? Not really. But I do believe that gender is an ever-flowing stream so..."

Natsuki snorted.

"What? Hey, I'm just saying that I'm not really attracted to her _that way_ , but can't a lady show appreciation for fellow ladies?"

"Whatever you say, Mai." Natsuki drank her milk, and reached for a second sandwich (also with an extra helping of mayonnaise, of course).

"Oh Natsuki. Can't you see? She's just so wonderful! And I've heard that she's just in her third year. Have you heard of any prefects appointed in their third year? I bet she's gonna be Head Girl in her fifth year. And occupy that office until she graduates!" Mai chuckled.

"For someone who just 'appreciates' Fujino, you seem to know a damn lot." Natsuki snickered. "And Head Girl in year five? No way."

Mai frowned at Natsuki. "She's like the school idol, what do you expect?"

Natsuki gave Mai a nod, and stared off in the distance, her mind veering off the topic and moving onto another. Ah, yes, her goals. Natsuki had big ambitions, and it was almost a pity that she was not sorted into Slytherin.

The child of a high-born wizard father and a muggle biochemist mother, Natsuki grew up in a surprisingly happy household. One would wonder how her parents got along at all, as they were truly different as vastly different two people could be. But they did, and that was all that mattered.

She was taught both with science and with magic, learning about the world with two different lenses, somehow making sense of it all in her young mind. Their house was filled with many curiosities, a potpourri of cultures and disciplines. When it became evident to her father that little Natsuki had the same talents as his, he was quick to warn her about keeping it a secret from her mother, as was the rule against non-magical folk, as stated by the International Statute of Secrecy. But the truth was, there was a precedent to matters such as these, such that they could, in fact, tell Natsuki's mother about them being magical creatures. But Natsuki's father refused to do it, even going great lengths to keep magic a secret from his wife. Dr. Saeko Kuga was a woman of science, and her husband could only think of two possible reactions when she discovers magic: utter disbelief that all her research could be rendered nil, and suffer a mental breakdown; or she could see a whole new world of possibilities in furthering her muggle research with magic, and have him help her with it. Both projected outcomes were, to say the least, undesirable.

Dr. Saeko Kuga thought her husband eccentric, but never did she think that he could be a "magician", as she would probably have called it. He had an even more eccentric family and an equally eccentric manor. A manor! And yet he opted to live with her in a medium-sized condominium unit in the city, insisting that Saeko wouldn't like it there. Well, she didn't really mind either way, as long as they all stayed together.

But it was such a pity that she died before seeing Natsuki slowly bud into a talented young lady.


	2. Chapter 2

A side note: I'm bumping up their ages here, such that first years are 16 year olds, second years are 17, and so on. It is an inevitable course of action if I want any yuri to appear in this story without harming my conscience. I mean, imagine if Natsuki was only eleven and Shizuru, thirteen. It is quite unsettling, to say the least.

* * *

 _"Kuga, Natsuki!"_

 _Natsuki Kuga walked to the front. She picked up the Sorting Hat, sat on the stool before her, and nervously placed the hat on top of her head. She looked at the students sitting at their tables, whispering to their neighbors. What was taking the Sorting Hat so long? She peered behind her and saw that even the professors and the Headmistress, the youthful-looking Professor Mashiro Kazahana, were eyeing her with her interest, as if they have seen her before._

 _"Oh, a Kuga! I haven't had one in years!" The Sorting Hat finally said. "Your people are Ravenclaw, the lot of you. And you have the mind for it too."_

 _Natsuki looked at the people at Ravenclaw. She knew nobody in that table._

 _"Hmm.. Calm and calculated, but you have your share of bravery. Fairly ambitious as well, this girl!"_

 _The whispers of the students grew louder. Who was this dark-haired beauty? And the name Kuga felt familiar to them, too…_

 _Emerald eyes searched the hall, and found a flash of crimson. Who or what was that?_

 _"Why not... Gryffindor!"_

 _What did it mean 'why not'? Was it not sure? Well, it did not matter anymore for Natsuki. She went to the Gryffindor table, where she was welcomed rather warmly by_ her _people, who clapped and cheered as she approached them. Ah, well, she didn't want to be remembered because of her family name, although it seems that that wouldn't be much of a problem as it looked like they did not know who the Kuga were. And so finally, she's with her house._

 _This is where she belongs now._

* * *

Natsuki Kuga looked around her, seeing dazed expressions on both Gryffindors and Slytherins, with whom they shared this class, then stared blankly at her book. _Herbology is so damn boring._

"What's with that weird face, Kuga? Coolga. Cool gal." It was Nao Yuuki, a girl with hair as red as strawberries and eyes that screamed mischief, and a fellow Gryffindor.

"Stop giving me weird nicknames, Yuuki. Why are you here? Get back to your seat before the professor sees you!"

"Seems like someone's not excited to see me," Nao deadpanned. "I'll be sitting here from now on. I exchanged seats with Ms. Thanks For The Mammaries back there."

Natsuki looked behind Nao and saw Mai three seats away, who was scratching the back of her head and mouthing "sorry". _Nothing to be sorry about, really. Not a big deal._ Natsuki made a face at Mai, hiding her lips to show her teeth and pulled her chin in to show the very thin layer of skin near her neck. Mai laughed loudly after seeing her face, which earned Mai a glare from Professor Youko. Natsuki and Nao tried to stifle their chortles.

"Never knew you had that in you, Kuga!" Nao wiped the tears in her eyes as she cackled. "You always look so damn serious, like you're ready to pounce on anyone at any given moment."

 _That's because I am,_ the long-haired ice princess thought.

"Why did you switch seats with Mai, anyway?"

"Well I heard around that Suzushiro got batshit crazy over that little jacket you used to wear, so you punched her in the tit. And so I thought, hey, I'd be buddies with anyone with that kind of guts. So here I am."

Natsuki covered her face with her hand. "Sorry to disappoint you, _Nao-san,_ but nothing of the sort happened. I never even spoke a word to the girl! And in fact, that prefect Shizuru Fujino interrupted before I lost my temper."

"Ah, Little-Miss-Deathly-Calm? I'd totally hit that. Oh, and you lost some cool points in my cool scale, by the way. Frickin' loser." Nao snickered.

Natsuki made a point to ignore the last comment. "Looks like everyone in this school has a thing for her."

"What? Sexy's sexy." Nao eyed the dark-haired girl from top to bottom, as much as one can while sitting. "Well, you probably count too."

Natsuki turned a shade redder than a tomato, then a white knuckle met a head covered with red hair. "Ow! That fucking hurt, Kuga!"

Five seats away, grey eyes glared at the bickering classmates. Eyes that belonged to someone who wanted nobody else to chase after the crimson-eyed beauty.

* * *

Shizuru Fujino sat in a room with the other prefects, blissfully oblivious to an impending war about to be waged all on her behalf. They have been called to this meeting by none other than the strictest professor there is: Maria Graceburt. Shizuru waited patiently and checked her reflection on a nearby window. To say that she was not lacking anything in the looks department was an understatement. She was _damn hot_ , as a certain Nao Yuuki would have described her. Girls certainly liked Shizuru Fujino.

And Shizuru Fujino liked girls.

She liked their sweet scents, their soft giggles, their blushing faces.

More of a lady than a girl herself, she thought of them more as children who look up to her as an idol, a goddess they could never even aspire to be, an entity outside the realm of normality but of the legendary: the consummate witch, one could say. Such was their view of the lady that the same people who always surrounded her ended up isolating her unknowingly.

Not that Shizuru Fujino minded at all.

Despite appearing amicable, she preferred to keep to herself. But she was a model student, a heroine, who had to keep appearances. And so appearances she kept.

With her golden wavy tresses, her ever-polite manner of speaking and her delightful accent, she conjured the image of a pure young lady. Still, there was one thing that managed to unnerve a lot of people: her eccentric eyes. It was not an off-shade of brown as it may sometimes appear. No, it was red. Blood-red. Hers were eyes that could resurface every bad dream that you've ever had, eyes that seemed to threaten at every opportunity. If Shizuru Fujino was not so ever-beaming, she would have scared off students and professors alike.

The lady in question adjusted her green and silver necktie as she listened intently to Professor Maria Graceburt, who arrived moments ago. "As you all know, a Kuga has entered Hogwarts once again." Professor Maria told them in her eternally stern voice.

"Yes ma'am, and she's being troublesome already!" Haruka Suzushiro interrupted.

"Five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn."

Haruka's jaw dropped at her words, and she could only look at the professor in disbelief.

"Are you finished, Suzushiro-san?" Haruka nodded swiftly, her mouth still open. If there was something or _someone_ that can shut her up, it was Miss Maria. "I thought so. Now, where was I? Ah yes, that Kuga girl. We have to keep an eye on her. Don't let her get into trouble, and see to it that she always wears that blue jacket of hers."

Shizuru Fujino raised her hand. "Yes, Fujino-san?"

"Might I ask why, Professor? And what is it about the Kuga that deserves special mention?"

"It's classified."

Shizuru's eyes glimmered. _Natsuki gets more and more interesting._

"Since it seems as if you're so curious, I'll leave this specific task to you, Fujino-san." Shizuru's eyes now danced, a toothless grin forming at her mouth.

The other prefects sniggered, but she paid them no attention. _Serves you right,_ they were probably thinking. They obviously thought this task was but for a lackey, a job for a _lowly_ third year like her. The snotty lot of them thinks they're better than her, because they're older, and therefore _much more qualified_ to be a prefect. Ah, let them think what they want. Better to let them feel threatened, when she is not even _trying_.

"I accept." _This is going to be fun._

After they've all been given assignments, the prefects all exited the room. In the corridors, surprised rubies met equally surprised emeralds.

"A good day to you, Natsuki. How lucky to run into you." She greeted the young lady with her million-galleon smile.

Natsuki's nostrils flared. "A g-good day to you too, Prefect. I was just switching classes after Herbology."

The chestnut-haired girl remained smiling, her face not betraying an ounce of the disappointment she felt at being addressed so formally. _What's with her nose?_ "I see that you're not wearing the jacket today."

"Oh, uhm yes, since you warned me about getting into trouble with professors and stuff." Natsuki scratched her cheek with an index finger, and tried to avoid the absurdly focused red gaze. _What am I being so nervous about?_

"Ah, but Na-tsu-ki," the older girl muttered every syllable of the other girl's name lazily, as if she liked how it rolled on her tongue. And strangely enough, she did. "That hoodie seemed to suit you better than the cloaks, after all. You can just wear it again."

Natsuki's pale cheeks slowly turned a soft shade of pink. "W-what are you saying, Fujino! And won't Suzushiro scold me again?"

"Natsuki seems to be forgetting who she's talking to." _Ah now what will she say to this?_

"Ah, s-sorry prefect." Natsuki, in all her embarrassment, managed to say.

"Ah, I was only teasing." Shizuru chuckled as she received a death glare. "You can call me Shizuru."

 _What a weird girl,_ Natsuki thought. _She's calling me by my first name, and now she's asking me to do the same. If I didn't know better, I would have thought that she wanted to be my friend._

Natsuki Kuga did not actually have any friends to speak of, at least not until Mai or Nao (and she didn't consider them friends yet), so she didn't know that Shizuru Fujino, in fact, wanted to be friends. And perhaps more. In spite of this, she obliged to the girl's—the absolutely stunning girl's—request.

"S-Shizuru."

"Yes, Natsuki?" Shizuru smiled brighter after hearing the husky voice say her name.

"You're drooling."

Shizuru quickly wiped the edges of her mouth to try to remove the drool, of which she found none. She raised her eyebrows at the girl who was obviously trying to contain her mirth.

"You fell for it, Shizuru." Natsuki laughed.

 _This cheeky little girl! What a dangerous girl you are turning out to be, sweet child. No one should find out how interested I am._ No one has ever teased Shizuru back, as everyone here knew that she was the master of the delicate art of teasing. _This will be the most amusing year yet._

"Natsuki is a meanie."

"Oi, Kuga! Whatchadoin' back there?" Nao called as she approached Natsuki. "Oh, ah, well, hello, Prefect."

"Hello."

"Yuuki. She's Nao Yuuki." Natsuki told her. Another girl, a bustier one, Shizuru noticed, caught up to them. "And this one with the great _personality_ is Tokiha. Mai Tokiha."

"Good day, prefect." Mai greeted nervously. It was THE Shizuru Fujino, after all.

Fujino eyed the newly-arrived pair with interest. _There seems to be quite a few attractive Gryffindor firsties this year._

"Hey Natsuki, you never told me you were in a first-name basis with the most awesome girl in school!" Mai whispered a bit too loudly, eliciting an amused grin from the eavesdropping Shizuru.

"Yeah, Kuga, what gives?" Nao said with a dash of irritation, but mostly laughter. Especially at how red this girl has become.

"Hey, hey, we only started just now! I only started calling her Shizuru right at this moment, right here!"

"Well sorry for interrupting your precious moment with Fujino-san," Mai giggled.

"Ah, l-look at the time guys. Come on. We're gonna be late for potions!" Natsuki shifted rather uncomfortably, wanting to change the topic already. She pushed the two towards the direction of their classroom. "Um, bye Shizuru. See you around!"

"Natsuki?" Shizuru called before Natsuki got any more farther.

"Yep?"

"You shall wear that jacket next time, yes?"

Natsuki smiled. "Yes, prefect."

* * *

 _"Remember, Natsuki. You must do as I say. And always bring this with you." A man in his forties made the girl wear the blue jacket in his hands. The girl complied._

 _"But Dad…"_

 _"Go, and be a good girl." The old man smiled and patted the young girl's head._

 _The girl looked back for one last time and pushed her trolley towards the barrier to make her way to platform nine and three-quarters._

 _The old man's smile faded, a worried look pasted to his face. "I hope I'm doing the right thing, Saeko…"_


End file.
